What I mean by this is perhaps Moshe, as he stood at the rock, stick in hand, was unable to see the people for what they were.

Instead of recognizing that the people in front of him were the children and grandchildren of the nation that had sinned so many times during the first eventful year in the desert, Moshe treated them as if they were their own parents.

Cogent, concise and compelling--predicated, of course, on the assumption that Moshe is addressing the new generation (G2), that the generation which left Egypt (G1) is dead. This, of course, is what we were all taught, based on Rashi's famous comment on Num. 20:1, "Then the entire congregation of Israelites entered the wilderness of Zin in the
first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died and was
buried there." Rashi comments: "'The entire congregation'--the
complete congregation, for the ones destined to die in the desert had
already died and these were assigned for life." The source for this is Midrash Tanhuma (Hukkat 37), and thus it turns out that all of those condemned must have died by the last day of year 39. (The Ramban notes that the phrasing "the entire congregation" is far from unusual and offers his own explanation; indeed, the phrase appears more than two dozen times in this book alone.)

It is not clear if Rashi here is presenting an alternative to what he writes in his Talmudic commentary. On BT Taanit 30b, he quotes the Jerusalem Talmud (Taanit 3:7), which describes the annual grave-digging ceremony on the 9th of Av: in year 40, no one died, so the last time G1 men died would have been 9 Av, 39, eight months before G2 arrived at Kadesh.

The problem is that this seems to directly contradict an explicit passage in Deuteronomy (2:14-16):

Now
the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the
crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military
men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them. Indeed, it was the very hand of the Lord that eliminated them from within the camp until they were all gone.So it was after all the military men had been eliminated from the community.

This passage unequivocally identifies Wadi Zered as the Jewish Rubicon, the line between G1 and G2. When do the Jews cross Wadi Zered? Not in year 39, but in year 40!

From there they moved on and camped in Wadi Zered. (Num. 21:12)

Note that Aharon dies on 1 Av (33:38), and the Jews spend a full month mourning him (20:29). They would be crossing Wadi Zered sometime in the summer of year 40, about six or fourteen months after the Midrashic dates.

Moreover, this tidbit fits in beautifully with the picture given to us in Hukkat. Just three stops before Wadi Zered, we have the final episode in which the people resent the Exodus (21:5): “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For
there is no bread or water, and we detest this worthless food!" It is almost identical to the complaint at Mei Meribah, which motivates Moshe to call them "rebels" (20:5): "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to bring us to this dreadful
place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor
is there any water to drink!” These are classic G1 complaints.

So how are we supposed to react to this? Certainly, intra-Midrashic contradictions are nothing new; they are not really contradictions, but differing opinions. Similarly, we often find the Midrash altering our view of the text by adding elements that are not written in it. However, in this case, the Midrash is actively sidelining the simple meaning of the text. Are we to ignore it? Is Deuteronomy irrelevant when discussing Numbers? Is Masei irrelevant when discussing Hukkat? I've been puzzling over this for 15 years, but perhaps the DovBear community has a solution.

Hi there very nice blog!! Guy .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I'll bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally? I am glad to find numerous useful info right here within the post, we need work out more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .

I am extremely impressed together with your writing talents and also with the structure in your blog. Is that this a paid theme or did you customize it your self? Anyway keep up the nice high quality writing, it is uncommon to peer a nice weblog like this one nowadays..

Howdy terrific website! Does running a blog similar to this require a great deal of work? I've very little understanding of programming however I was hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyhow, if you have any suggestions or techniques for new blog owners please share. I know this is off topic however I just had to ask. Kudos!

Hi! Quick question that's totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when viewing from my iphone 4. I'm trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to fix this problem. If you have any recommendations, please share.

If your bacne is location where you might have trouble reaching, you may should wrap a clean washcloth around the end of your long-handled brush, slick some of one's treatment onto the washcloth and rub it around on the back to pay it. Tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, milk and strawberries are common considered being rich causes of it. After acne has been fully controlled, scars can be treated with standard or laser surgery or perhaps a resurfacing procedure called dermabrasion. This might be difficult to re-adjust particularly when you're not used to sleeping on the back.

Hey! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I'm getting fed up of Wordpress because I've had problems with hackers and I'm looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

That will be the day time when consuming edible oysters would bring in not merely food with the table but also pearl for jewelry. Online jewelry retailers generally have far less overhead and so you aren't paying for the lights, the staff, the security, and everything else associated with a brick and mortar store. The fashion consciousness of men has given rise to new styles and unique designs when it comes to finding the mens titanium rings perfect wedding band.

I have been browsing online more than 2 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours.It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

Try a search and see for yourself. If you can't find what you're looking for ask me.

Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]